Joseph Gratz didn’t scour the Internet looking for a copy of the 1904 novel “The Castaway” because of Hallie Erminie Rives’ fine prose.
The opening of that book should make that clear enough: “A cool breeze slipped ahead of the dawn. It blew dim the calm Greek stars, stirred the intricate branches of olive-trees inlaid in the rose-pearl facade of sky, bowed the tall, coral-lipped oleanders lining the rivulets, and crisped the soft wash of the gulf-tide. It lifted the strong bronze curls on the brow of a sleeping man who lay on the sea-beach covered with a goatskin.”
